Rome. Paris. Florence. Japan. The names may sound exotic, but all can be found right here in Missouri. After talking to a friend who didn’t seem excited about an upcoming trip to Mexico, St. Louis photographer Nancy Bridges discovered that Missouri is home to a number of towns named after international locales. That conversation led [...]

Visitors who have enjoyed the Vatican Splendors exhibit at the Missouri History Museum may want to visit the current display in the Library and Research Center reading room, which features artifacts and documents related to Catholics in Missouri. Among the artifacts is a pair of pewter casters used during Mass at the first Catholic Church in New Madrid, Missouri.

For much of its early history, the Saint Louis Zoo felt more like a circus than what most people would now consider a zoo. Animal shows, complete with costumed animals and elaborate sets, earned the Zoo a worldwide reputation and led Life magazine to call the Zoo “the most entertaining ever known in the U.S.”

Photo at left: Detail of a lion show led by trainer Jules Jacot. Courtesy of Saint Louis Zoo.

On a recent phone conversation with my mother, she informed me that she and Dad are taking a vacation to Branson, Missouri. Neither my parents nor I have been there in years, but Branson was a popular destination for my family when I was a child in the late 1970s. Mom and I talked about [...]

The Sunday after the opening of the exhibit The Americans with Disabilities Act: 20 Years Later here at the Missouri History Museum, I arrived at work a little earlier than normal in order to beat the large crowds expected for the 20th annual Disability Pride Parade in Forest Park. I noticed a woman heading toward [...]

One day during my first year of working in the Library and Research Center of the Missouri History Museum I was showing materials to a group of elementary school children. The idea was to show them items from the collection that would give them a sense of history of the area. They could look at [...]

The current display in the Library and Research Center reading room complements the History Museum’s Vatican Splendors exhibit. The display explores objects in our collection pertaining to Catholics in the St. Louis area. Although there are only nine American saints, the St. Louis metropolitan region can claim one. Rose Philippine Duchesne (1769–1852) grew up and [...]

During my time in the Missouri History Museum’s conservation lab as the Williams intern, I have enjoyed working on a variety of projects—each rewarding in their own way. One of the largest and most visually interesting projects I have participated in is the rehousing of the Missouri History Museum’s rolled textile collection. The word “textile” [...]